Galaxy S9 & S9 Plus were the Global BestSellers in April 2018: Counterpoint

Galaxy S9 & S9 Plus were the Global BestSellers in April 2018: Counterpoint

The just-released Counterpoint’s Market Pulse April Edition Report indicates that Samsung is doing really good with its recently launched Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus smartphones. The report by the firm shows top ten global bestsellers for April month. As expected, the initial positions are occupied by flagships from Samsung and Apple, while Xiaomi rules the sixth and eighth positions.

The S9 and S9 Plus were the most selling smartphones, occupying 2.6% of the market shares throughout the globe. These two flagships from Samsung performed really well in North American and Asian Markets. Even though the Galaxy S9 was not a major upgrade over the S8, it beat the all-time popular Apple iPhone X in terms of the number of sales. The Galaxy S8 shares tenth spot with 1.3% due to whopping Cashback offers and price cuts done by Samsung after the launch of Galaxy S9, which helped Samsung in grabbing a good amount of Sales in flagship segment.

The Apple iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone 8 hold the next three spots by a sales margin of 2.3%, 2.3% and 2.2% respectively. Surprisingly, even the older gen iPhone 6 and the iPhone 7 managed to grab the seventh and ninth spot with 1.4% sales each. The report says that the iPhone 7 still holds good in North America and the Asia Pacific regions.

The entry-level budget offering from Xiaomi i.e. the Redmi 5A has been doing great since past times. It managed to outcross the Redmi Note 5 in terms of sales with 1.5% shares compared to 1.4% of the Redmi Note 5.

The list of top 10 shares is occupied by premium Flagships from Samsung and Apple in addition to ultra budget offerings from Xiaomi. This concludes that consumers are preferring either premium flagship devices or budget devices as of April 2018.

Microsoft prepares to End support for Windows 10 Mobile this Year

When Nokia launched the Lumia range of smartphones running on the Windows operating system years ago, they made quiet a wave. Later, Microsoft took over and continued the production of the Lumia from Nokia. The Lumia range of smartphones did find a lot of buyers and had some of the finest smartphones of the time.

But, Microsoft couldn’t keep up with the Android and iOS trends and eventually died out. Now reports states that Microsoft is preparing to end support for the Windows 10 Mobile by the end of this year.

Microsoft has asked the users of Windows 10 mobiles to switch to an Android or iOS device as it announced the end of support for Windows 10 Mobile. The news doesn’t come as a surprise as Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President of Windows 10, had made clear that they wont be focusing on new features or hardware for Windows 10 Mobile back in 2017.

In an “End of Support” page, the tech giant told users that Windows 10 Mobile will stop receiving new security updates after December 10. While the news was expected, it comes as a blow as several peoples are still using the windows mobile across the world, owing to its build quality and performance.

“With the Windows 10 Mobile OS end of support, we recommend that customers move to a supported Android or iOS device. Microsoft’s mission statement to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, compels us to support our Mobile apps on those platforms and devices,” the company wrote in the support page late on Friday.

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) scrapped as many as 36,000 windows mobiles used by the law enforcers back in 2017 after Microsoft acknowledged that it’s support will be ending. In an other statement, Microsoft also made clear that their Virtual Assistant Cortana is no longer in direct competition with Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa.

Redmi Note 7 is almost Waterproof! Has Watertight Seals for all Ports & Buttons.

Redmi Note 7, the first phone from the newly formed sub brand “Redmi” was launched 2 days ago. But they missed out announcing an important feature of the phone. Xiaomi President Lei Jun shared in his official weibo account that Redmi Note 7’s uses a design in which it’s buttons are waterproof and interfaces too.

However the Redmi Note 7 doesn’t come with an IP certification, but it will be able to provide basic water/splash resistance. If that does sound familiar, OnePlus 6 & 6T comes with similar splash resistance.

Lei said that the device has gone for quality test just like the same as Xiaomi’s Premium devices. They are also extending warranty from 12 months to 18 months to prove the same. The device comes in 3 variants 3GB + 32GB priced at 999 yuan ($147), the 4GB+64GB version which is at 1199 yuan ($176), and the 6GB+64GB version which is priced at 1399 yuan ($206). The smartphone will go officially for sale at 10:00 AM on January 15.

Take a look at the video posted to Weibo where he explains this and shows off it’s abilities:

Realme 3 is Coming this Quarter itself. A 48MP Camera Phone in the Works Too!

According to the telephonic interview of Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth by indianexpress.com, they had got some information on the upcoming phone and plans of Realme in 2019.

Realme will soon launch a new device in India named Realme 3 in some what of Q1 2019. And Madhav also said that the brand is working on a 48MP camera phone, but there is no confirmation that the device is Realme 3 or which sensor they’re going to be using (Sony IMX586 or Samsung GM1).

Madhav shared some of their plans in 2019. He has confirmed the launch of Realme A1, which will be unveiled in early 2019 and stand between Realme C1 and Realme U1. They are going to open a retail store in India somewhat in middle of 2019. The location of the store not disclosed. The Relame 2 Pro is soon going to be offline.

Due to the revised policy of Indian Govt. on e-commerce, a vendor can’t sell more than 25% on a particular platform. An e-commerce platform can’t offer devices exclusively. Realme sells their phone through both i.e Amazon and Flipkart.

Madhav said that the brand is focusing in the 5000 – 20000 segment. He also added that the brand doesn’t see any values in launching smartphones with punch hole display or triple rear cameras. Going offline will increase the operational cost, but Madhav said they will continue to launch phones in very aggressive as earlier. He didn’t said anything about the development of their independent UI.

It is notable that the brand sold 4 Million smartphones in first 7 months in 2018. This rise may also continue in 2019.